How does a veliger larva feed while swimming in plankton?

The veliger larva, a free-swimming stage in the life cycle of many gastropods, feeds while suspended in the plankton using a specialized organ called the velum.12

The velum consists of large, heavily ciliated lobes that serve multiple functions, including swimming, gas exchange, and feeding. As the larva swims, the rhythmic beating of the cilia on the velum creates water currents that entrap small food particles, such as diatoms and other microscopic plankton. These ciliary currents then channel the captured food directly into the larva's mouth.132

This feeding mechanism is characteristic of planktotrophic veligers, which must actively collect their own food to sustain their development before eventually metamorphosing into their adult form and losing the velum.23